Organizers for a comprehensive immigration reform effort gathered on a regional level for the first time in Greater Cincinnati March 26-28 to develop strategies, target lawmakers and help area Catholics keep the issue at the forefront.

“Most of us aren’t impacted by immigration,” said Chris West, director of field operations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ immigration campaign called Justice for Immigrants.

“It is small groups who can get together to change things. There is that power. Immigration is bigger than us,” he told the audience during his presentation. “We encourage others to pray about the issue. When you lift it up to God, you engage people.”

The Justice for Immigrants campaign convened the regional Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform at a conference center in the northern Cincinnati suburb of Mason.

About 130 people, mostly from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia, attended to exchange ideas and learn skills such as participating in a letter-writing campaign to their representatives in Congress.

Kentucky was represented by about 20 delegates who came from the Archdiocese of Louisville and the dioceses of Owensboro, Ky., and Lexington, Ky.

The objectives of the Justice for Immigrants campaign include educating the public and Catholic community about migration and immigrants; creating a political will for positive immigration reform; enacting legislative and administrative reforms based on the bishops' principles; and organizing Catholic networks to help qualified immigrants obtain the benefits of the reforms.

“Our goal is to educate and arm supporters of the comprehensive immigration reform for the Ohio River valley region. This is a rich environment with Catholics and lawmakers,” said Antonio Cube, the campaign’s national manager.

The conference included presentations for parishioners to learn how to spread the Catholic message regarding immigration reform, Catholic social teaching and migration, as well as policies and political views.

“We as the Catholic Church must return to our Judeo-Christian values of how newcomers — whether they’re legal or illegal — and natives (of the United States) can live together,” said Jill Marie Gerschutz, migration policy director for the U.S. Jesuit Conference.

“We have respect for human dignity,” she said. “The laws should not be confused with morality. Laws are not equivalent to morality. Sovereignty has limitations. We have a responsibility for ensuring the common good.”

Conference participants also attended a variety of workshops, including one led by West, who encouraged them to develop clear action steps as they advocate for immigration reform.

“Presenting the problem is fine, but people need to feel like (immigration issues) can be solved,” he said.

To that end, conference delegates from different states met to discuss strategies to take back to their parishes and dioceses.

Delegates from Kentucky developed a plan to begin educating people about immigration reform and inviting people to participate in advocacy for immigrants.

Tom Gurucharri, who works in Hispanic and Latino parish ministry in Louisville, committed to finding students who migrated here as young children with undocumented parents. He would like for them to talk to the media about how the proposed DREAM Act would affect their lives. The act would provide a path to citizenship for these young people through post-secondary education or military service.

The group also plans to ask Kentucky parishes to ring their church bells in unison on May 12 at 10 a.m. to commemorate the anniversary of a major immigration raid conducted in Iowa last year. St. Bridget Church in Postville, Iowa, served as a refuge during the aftermath of the raid that led to the arrest of nearly 400 immigrants.

The group also planned to coordinate a celebration of National Migration Week in 2010.

Father Pat Delahanty, associate director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, said he would help constituents schedule appointments with legislators to discuss immigration reform.

Kay Frazier, the associate director of African-American ministry and rural ministry consultant for the Archdiocese of Louisville Office of Multicultural Ministries, said the gathering gave her “a much clearer understanding of why we have to speak and be vocal about this issue.”

Patti Gutierrez, coordinator of the Justice for Immigrants Campaign in the Diocese of Owensboro, said the conference gave her new energy in building support for immigration reform.

“The best thing about the convening was seeing the momentum building again in support of comprehensive immigration reform,” she said. “The most important thing I learned was the need for reshaping the way we talk to people about immigration reform, focusing on the moral aspects and that we are all brothers and sisters in one family of God.”